Blossoming Complications
by Ai Auraine
Summary: When a 15 year old girl finds a precious necklace, she encounters the authorities, the HIVE, and the Teen Titans. Emotions take over. Jealousy, arguments, & love will lash out. Latest TT Ch2: A New Arrival
1. Little Discoveries

* * *

**Blossoming Complications**

By Nikkiriiii

_When a 15 year old girl finds a precious necklace, she encounters the authorities, the HIVE, and the Teen Titans. Emotions take over. Jealousy, arguments, & love will lash out._

* * *

**Chapter 1: Little Discoveries**

* * *

"Darn…"

"What's up, Nikki?"

"The lost and found closed early today of all days, Auraine. I can't return the necklace."

"Cheer up, Nikki. Come on, it's your birthday! You don't want to spend your birthday in this building, do you?"

I shook my head, "True… let's go. I'll put it in the lost and found tomorrow."

Before I keep going, let's take a moment to introduce myself.

My name is Nicole. Pretty yet simple name, don't you think?

In order to explain how I got where I am now I should probably start with... my history. So as you know, my name is Nicole and I was born on the west coast of the United States, California to be exact. There aren't many facts that you need to know about my childhood except that there were many people who had special 'abilities' who either used these attributes for good or evil. They are otherwise known as superheroes and/or super villains. We had super powered villain problems from time to time, but usually those Teen Titans people would deal with it. But aside from that, my childhood was a normal one.

Oh, and in case you must know… today is my fifteenth birthday.

Unfortunately my birthday fell on a school day this year and so I had to spend the morning and half of the afternoon of my birthday in the building that all… well, most kids hate. School. I suppose it was nice to have everyone saying happy birthday to you but come on! Studying on your birthday… isn't that kind of… lame? Well, I think so.

So anyways, early this afternoon, luck just wasn't on mine and my best friend, Auraine's side and we were running late for English and, obviously, we were walking as fast we could. Then, I tripped and fell to the ground. Luckily, my clothes were fine and I had no scratches. So I was slightly glad. I looked at the crack I had tripped on.

I don't know why I looked into the crack but it was as if something was drawing me towards it. I looked inside and saw a necklace. It was a pretty little thing with leaf charms made of jade and little Swarovski crystal beads scattered around the chain.

I took it out of the crack but I didn't have much of a chance to think about it other than it was beautiful and that I just had to return it. I put it in my pocket so I could return the lost necklace. It'd be such a shame to lose such a treasure, but I couldn't run to the lost and found at that moment since we had less than thirty seconds to dash for our English class which was just around the corner.

We stumbled in trying to catch our breath as we came into the room just as the bell began to ring.

_Phew. _

Now back to what was happening at the present.

"Good, now let's go find your cousins!" Auraine was saying.

I nodded.

She grabbed my hand and we ran out into the courtyard. Once there, we looked around.

"Hmm… I guess Lisa and Wren aren't out yet. Geez! Why are they always late? We have to hurry! God, we'll just wait until they come out. I told them to meet us here so they should be here soon." I looked at my best friend and smiled.

"You know Auraine, sometimes it seems like you're more excited about my birthday than I am. Is there something else going on? And why are you in such a hurry for me to get home… and why are we walking home with my cousins again?"

"Let's see… in reply to all the stuff you just said, in order, I'll have to say:

One, I do not.

Two... not that I know of.

Three, I don't know. I just want to get away from school.

Four, your parents told us to."

"Oh, yea…" I replied, recalling what my parents had said early this morning.

"Memories flooding back yet, Nicole?" she grinned. "Uh-huh."

"NIKKIDDING!!"

I whirled around turning towards the source of the scream and found myself facing Wren.

"Do you seriously have to call me that in public? Much less yell it out?" I hissed at my second oldest and pretty cousin. She chuckled and said, "Heck yea."

"Where's Lisa?" Auraine asked.

My _dearest_ cousin replied grinning, "She's probably still flirting with Mike. The little skank is probably gonna try to get him to ask her out. How much do you wanna bet that he'll ask her out?"

"Ten that he will. I have faith in her." I grinned.

"Fine, ten on his saying no."

I looked at Auraine, who had just made that bet and warned, "Get those ten dollars out because I'm so gonna win."

"We'll see about that _Nikkidding_," she smirked.

I sighed, "Not you too... some best friend you are."

"Sorry?"

"Oh yeah? Well, sorry doesn't cut it."

"Fine. Be that way."

"Fine! I will!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Oh yeah??!?"

"Yeah!!!"

"WILL YOU TWO SHUT UP!??!" Wren screeched. We were instantly silenced. "Thank the lord," she sighed in an exasperated tone.

We both stuck our tongues out at her. She chuckled at our immaturity.

Suddenly she jumped up and pointed at something, startling Auraine and me causing us to jump as well, and yelled, "Ahoy! I be spying a fair maiden with a smile on her lips and she be attached to a lad's arm." We took a glance towards where she was pointing and there, as Wren said, was Lisa with a huge smile on her face and holding on to Mike's arm. We grinned.

"Do we have something to ask Miss Lisa?" Wren asked us in a hushed voice.

Auraine nodded and I said, "Oh yes… yes we do." We giggled.

Wren counted, "5-4-3-2-1…"

"LISA BUMMYBUM! WE GOTTA GO! " we yelled at the top of our lungs.

We fell to the ground rolling in laughter as we saw her smile turn into a frown and her perfectly tan face turn a very bright red. "YOU LITTLE NERDS!" she screeched as she stomped towards us.

"We better… snort… run… ha-ha… before she catches… ha-ha, snort… up with us!" Wren snorted with laughter as we quickly grabbed our bags and ran as fast as we could towards my house.

Finally, our laughter died down as we started to lose our breath and we concentrated on running since we were getting a bit tired when Auraine looked back. "Oh snap! Eek!! She's gaining on us! Run faster!!!" she screamed as she sprinted faster than I had ever seen her run.

I looked behind me and the sight I saw gave me an extra burst of energy. I saw gorgeous Lisa with her wavy black hair flying everywhere, her teeth were clenched, her face was red, and her hands were balled into fists. And Auraine was right. She was gaining on us. I screamed and sprinted, following my best friend.

'Dang, this girl can run fast when she wants to.' I thought as I finally caught up with her.

We burst into the house and ran up the stairs and locked ourselves in my room. We locked the window too, just in case since we both knew that Lisa had a talent for climbing in and out of windows on the second floor.

"Nicole," Auraine started, "what happened to Wren?"

I froze. 'Wren is doomed,' I said to myself, 'We shouldn't have left her but who wants to face the wrath of a raging Lisa?'

Lisa and Wren looked similar in many ways. Both were very smart, had short fuses, and found enjoyment in other people's misery. Its not that they're bullies or anything, it's just that they find people funniest when they're mad. But if its Lisa or Wren who's irritated you better start running like we did because they'd beat you down badly.

Most people like to stay on their good sides. I do too… usually. But people who mess with Lisa usually got beat up worse than if Wren does the beating. First of all, Lisa's stronger and older but she also takes judo. But she's not much of a runner which was fortunate for us.

My two cousins and I almost look like sisters. We all have the same wavy black hair except my hair is longer than theirs and I have long highlighted bangs that I usually leave against the sides of my face.

Our eyes are different too. We all have almond-shaped eyes but mine are thinner, Wren's are wider, and Lisa's are in the middle. We're all in Filipino but I've got some Chinese in me. It's good to be different you know.

Auraine and I finally cooled down and our breathing slowed after we sat around in my room for thirty minutes. "Do you think it's safe to leave your room yet?" Auraine asked.

I looked at the door and said, "I guess and either way I'm not spending my birthday in my room."

I started to sweat again as I stood up and walked towards the door. Slowly and as quietly as I could, I opened the door. I stuck my head out and looked down both ends of the hallway and listened for any hint of whether we were in a danger zone or not.

Surprisingly, the house was utterly silent.

I motioned for Auraine to come with me downstairs. We nervously walked down.

Once we were in the living room we stopped and looked around. 'Mom and dad aren't home yet, but is Lisa home? And did Wren make it?' I thought.

Suddenly, we heard a sound coming from the kitchen causing us to jump.

Auraine whimpered as I edged closer and closer to the door that led to the kitchen. Once there, in front of the door, I pushed the door open quickly and braced myself for a feel of one of Lisa's judo moves.

I was surprised when it never came and instead I heard people yelling, "SURPRISE!"

I stood in the doorway open-mouthed and frozen. A few seconds later I turned my head to look at a grinning Auraine.

"I though you said nothing was happening?!" I exclaimed.

She merely smirked and said, "Oops. Must have slipped my mind."

"Good. I like surprises," I grinned as I gave her a hug.

Then I turned to all my party guests, "So how long have you all been planning this?"

"Umm… I think a week ago. Right, Wren?" my mother replied.

Wren nodded.

"Great."

From there I had the best birthday ever. It was so fun yet tiring. So when my relatives and friends left my house I was ready to collapse.

I said 'Good Night' to my parents and went up to my room.

As I was changing, the necklace fell out of my pocket. I picked it up and looked it over to make sure none of the charms and beads had broken. Luckily, none had. While looking at the necklace, I decided to just try it on.

I closed the clasp and looked at myself in the mirror.

It was nice… actually it was beautiful.

I continued to stare when suddenly I saw the necklace glow green and brown as everything went black.

'Ugh… what's with bright light??' That was my first thought as I opened my eyes seeing the sun's light flooding my room.

"Ugh… I hate bright mornings," I muttered.

I got up and went into the bathroom. I looked at myself in the mirror when the memories came flooding back to me.

The necklace, the glowing, and collapsing on the bathroom floor.

'What happened?' I thought, 'Why was the necklace glowing? Why'd I collapse? Wait.' I looked at myself again in the mirror.

The necklace wasn't there.

"Where's the necklace?" I asked myself.

Another thought hit me.

'If I collapsed on the bathroom floor, why'd I wake up in bed??'

I thought some more while I showered. 'Maybe it was all a dream. But then that means I didn't have that great birthday party and today is my birthday. But that party seemed so real.'

I got dressed and while brushing my hair I looked at my calendar. 'It says that today is the day after my birthday. But then that would mean that the dream wasn't a dream, but reality. Maybe I was so tired last night that I had hallucinations and I never did find that necklace. I just thought I saw it when I fell. Maybe I hit my head. Yea, that's right.'

After that thought, I pushed all thoughts concerning the necklace to the back of my mind. 'Just enjoy your first day as a fifteen year old,' I said to myself. I did my usual morning rituals of brushing my teeth and eating a breakfast of jellied toast, orange juice, and a banana. Then I grabbed my bag, left the house, and walked to Auraine's place.

"OY! AURAINE! STOP BEING A CONCEITED FOOL AND LET'S GO ALREADY!" I yelled as I walked up her front yard to her door.

She stuck her head out of the window and glared.

"I am not a conceited fool."

"Then stop looking at yourself in the mirror and let's go already!" I said.

She frowned and put her hand mirror down. "Alright, alright. I'm coming. Sheesh."

She grabbed her bag and we headed for Mandrika High School. The neighborhood was quiet and peaceful. The birds were chirping and squirrels were running around the green lawns.

"So," Auraine started, "are you going to ask someone to the dance?"

"I… don't think so," I said simply.

"And why not?"

"Because there's no one worth asking."

"One word, Nicole. Liar."

"I'm not lying."

"So you're saying that Colin's not worth it?"

I was silenced. Colin has been a crush of mine for about a year now. He's handsome, popular, and very funny. He was definitely worth asking. Too bad I didn't have the guts to ask him and no way was there a chance that he was going to ask me. He's probably got his sights on Firae.

"You know as well as I do that he won't ask me and I'm not about to ask him," I said.

"True. He's probably going with Firae."

Firae's one of the most popular twins in the school. She was beautiful, president of the freshman year, and one of the people who hate me. She has an obsession of clothes with flames and fire designs. She says it gives her 'flare.' I say burn it.

"Yup. He tried asking Irae two days ago during art. As usual, the ice princess said no."

"Which means he'll take the next best thing, though I can't say Firae is one of the better choices," Auraine said she said frowning.

Firae's sister, Irae, is the school's ice princess. She has a cold personality and has been known to turn down all guys. She was voted vice president of freshman year by most of the guys of the student body in hopes of getting a date with her and like her sister, she hates me.

To tell the truth, I don't really care if they hate me because… well, I hate them too. They're always trying to make a fool out of me. Don't ask me why. Maybe because they're the richest girls in school and I'm just middle class?

Fortunately, they've got brains of bricks and I find it quite sad that I can form a snappy retort on the spar of the moment while they take minutes to make one up together. This is humiliating for them since they tell people that they'll 'go bitch on anyone who messes with them.' I've been messing with them since they moved here easy, and they still haven't gotten me since their little 'diabolical' plots are way too obvious.

I felt Auraine walk faster. "Auraine?"

"Hello? Nicole, we're right in front or Drelis Manor."

I looked around. She was right. I started to walk faster as well. Drelis Manor is the huge mansion of Irae and Firae's family. They have a tall black fence going all around the property. The Drelis' didn't find any interest in gardening and so the grounds were full of weeds, vines, and moss covered statues. The statues were of Drelis ancestors and their staring eyes along with the big black fence gave a sense of foreboding to the place.

My house however, had a big garden full of flowers that gave sweet smelling scents during the spring. I loved flowers but my favorite flowers are the national flower of the Philippines, the sampaguita, and plumeria. I love small-petal flowers which is the reason for my favoritism towards the sampaguita and I find the scent of plumeria wonderful. I thought of the garden at home which would not bloom for another three months and sighed. I wish flowers could bloom at anytime of the year…

"Nicole!" someone shouted.

"Wha… "

"You almost bumped me into the road!"

"Oops?"

"Here's a tip, don't space out while you're walking near the street."

"Um… got it."

"Good, now hurry up!"

"Alright already!"

We continued to walk to school and this time I concentrated on walking. Then I remembered something. "Auraine?" I asked.

"What?"

"Lisa said that she's going to the dance with Mike."

"So?"

"We made a bet."

"What bet?"

"Stop playing dumb and give me my ten dollars."

"Geez. I just _had_ to get a friend with a good memory," she mumbled as she handed over the ten dollar bill.

"Thank you and I await my next opportunity to get money off of you."

"Shut up."

"Okay."

We arrived at the school and sat under our favorite tree, which we had named Matt on the first day of school. We were drunk on root beer that day. "So Raine, are you going to ask anyone?" I asked.

"No."

"Why not?"

"You know we're repeating the conversation we had earlier except now I'm in your place."

"Yup. Anyways, why not?"

"I just don't want to."

"Err… fine."

We stood up and walked towards the school buildings as the first bell rang. As we entered the school we parted ways since our lockers and homerooms were on opposite sides of the school.

"See you at first period," Auraine yelled over all the chatter.

"Good luck with Mr. Vatis!" I replied with a grin. She grimaced.


	2. A New Arrival

* * *

**Blossoming Complications**

By Nikkiriiii

_When a 15 year old girl finds a precious necklace, she encounters the authorities, the HIVE, and the Teen Titans. Emotions take over. Jealousy, arguments, & love will lash out._

* * *

**Chapter 2: A New Arrival**

* * *

I laughed.

Auraine hates Mr. Vatis, absolutely hates him. She says she's sure that he hates her, too. He's always yelling and picking on her. He just about blames her for everything that goes wrong during homeroom and science. I, on the other hand, am one of his favorite students. Auraine thinks that I must be crazy to like his class. I'm not crazy, in case you're wondering.

I walked off to my locker, dumped my bag's contents, and started digging through all my locker junk for the things I need for Ms. Darillan's homeroom. It's not that my locker is messy; it's just a bit… disorganized. I know... I'm lying. It's a dump, but I still manage to find my stuff. I shut my locker and walked to homeroom.

On the way though, I passed the school office. 'Hmm… it looks like we have a new student. He's pretty handsome,' I said to myself. Then I continued my walk to homeroom.

I'm very unfortunate. I have Firae in my homeroom and it's horrible and funny but boring. It's the same everyday… she makes a snide remark about me in my face and I give a retort with more snap. Then she turns as red as her died red hair and sits down in her seat. I smile at my victory and I take my seat as well. Today was no different.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be sitting with your equals at the town dump?" Firae said with a smirk.

A retort came to me in an instant and I said with a wider smirk, "No, but your clothes should take my place, they'd be more in place."

She turned red with rage. I knew she wanted to fight with me badly but even she knew that I could take her any day. I've got archery skills and I'm definitely stronger and more agile than her. So she merely sat down and became silent. I sat down as well as the bell rang and Ms. Darillan walked into the room.

Ms. Darillan was the junior art teacher and she's very nice. She's never late for class and she's the only teacher that let's talking occur during homeroom, and she doesn't give detention. What a great teacher.

"Class," Ms. Darillan spoke as we started quiet down, "you have a new classmate from a United States base in Okinawa, Japan. His name is Sidney Varanillas. Come in, Sidney."

The guy I had seen in the office came into the classroom and gave a small wave and smile.

'Wow, he has a nice smile,' I thought to myself.

Firae got up and went to the front of the room. As she shook Sidney's hand and smiled as she said, "I'm Firae, freshman president. Welcome to Mandrika High."

She took her seat as Ms. Darillan started to speak, "I'd like someone to help Sidney find his classes. Probably someone who has the most classes with him… and that would be… Nicole."

"What?" I said. I wasn't exactly paying much attention to what was happening.

"Would you like to help Ryan to his and your classes?" Ms. Darillan asked patiently.

"Um… okay?" I said uncertainly.

"Good." Ms. Darillan turned back to Sidney. "Is that okay with you Sidney?"

"Sure," he said as he smiled at me. I could have melted on the spot.

"You can sit by Nicole then."

He took his things and sat down in the desk next to me. While Ms. Darillan was taking attendance Sidney turned to me after our names were already called. He held out his hand and said, "Nice to meet you."

I took his hand and shook it. "Likewise."

He smiled as did I. For the remainder of homeroom he asked me questions about the school and I tried to answer them as best as I could. As I was explaining the different 'groups' of the school the bell rang. "Well, let's get to your locker," I said as I got up and headed for the door. He nodded as he stood up.

"What's your locker number?" I asked.

"Uh…" He fumbled through some papers and said, "1416."

"Okay, that's near my locker. Mine's 1412," I said.

"Cool." He went to open his locker as I opened mine. Again, I stuffed my homeroom things into my locker and took out algebra materials. I slammed my locker closed and went over to Sidney. He was still putting things away in an organized manner.

"Jeez. Are you always this organized?" I asked crinkling my nose at the cleanliness of his locker.

"Why? You got a problem with it?" he asked raising his eyebrow.

"Yea, it's not normal!"

He chuckled. I laughed. He grabbed his things and we went to our algebra class. The teacher greeted him and introduced him to the class. They did all that welcoming stuff and he was put in a seat in front. I took my seat by the window.

I usually don't pay attention to my algebra teacher and today was no exception. Math came easy to me, I could figure out what all those x' and y's stood for without any explanations, so I wasn't really concentrating on what the teacher was saying. Instead I was staring out the window. Something strange was happening.

The snow was parting and up came a small white flower, full grown and blooming. It was followed by other small flowers in different colors, also in full bloom. I was so transfixed at the strange phenomenon.

Then it hit me. Flower growing full bloom during winter? Who ever heard of something that absurd? But, there it was… happening right in front of my very eyes. Suddenly something hit my shoulder which brought me back to reality.

"Wha?" I said out loud.

"Did you say something, Miss Vandico?" Ms. Barnes asked.

"Uh... no ma'am."

"Alright then."

I looked around as Ms. Barnes continued the lesson. Behind me I saw Auraine mouthing, 'What's wrong?'

'Nothing,' I mouthed back.

She paused and then scribbled something on a scrap of paper from her notebook. Then she passed it to me. It said, 'Why were you looking out the window? You looked like you saw a ghost.'

I turned the paper over and wrote, 'Nothing, I just thought I saw Firae's face. ' I passed the folded paper back.

She read it and covered her mouth to stop a giggle from escaping her lips. I chuckled silently when I remembered the flowers. I looked outside and saw the blossoms closing and returning into the ground. 'Uh… that's creepy.'

I decided not to tell anyone about it in case they think I've cracked. I looked around and saw Sidney staring at me… just staring at me. I quickly looked down at my notebook, not looking up for the rest of the period. I spent the rest of algebra class doodling on my paper.

Finally the bell rang, Auraine and I separated ways again and I took Sidney back to his locker. We grabbed some stuff and went to… ugh… history.

It's not that I don't like history, it's just that… I hate it. I just don't see the point of it sometimes. Why do we need to know things that have already happened? I just don't understand that and the teacher that teaches the subject talks in a monotone that can get anyone not interested drowsy.

I took my seat at the back of the room and Sidney was assigned to the seat next to me. He smiled and sat down. I leaned over and whispered tauntingly, "Prepare for the torture of history class." He raised his eyebrows and I stifled a laugh.

The teacher, Mr. Gorbin, began his lesson and droned on and on. Half way into the period I felt myself getting drowsy. I looked over at Sidney. He was sitting with his back straight. 'How the heck does he do that??' I wondered. Suddenly I heard a soft snort.

I looked at Ryan again. 'Wait a minute.' His eyes were closed! 'What the heck! He's asleep!' I barely kept myself from laughing out loud. That woke me up a bit, just enough to get through Mr. Gorbin's lecture.

To my relief the period ended and the bell rang. There's one good thing about Mr. Gorbin, though… he doesn't give homework. I looked at Sidney expecting to see him awake already and getting up. When I turned around, he was still sitting and sleeping. 'Dang, he's a deep sleeper,' I said to myself.

I poked him in the sides. Suddenly he jumped as if he had sat on a pin. I cracked up. He scowled. I grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the classroom saying, "Come on! We're going to be late for art!"

He still had a frown on but he followed. As I was taking out my drawing pad and pencils, someone poked my sides. "Eek!" I squealed. I heard laughter behind me. I whirled around and found myself face to face with Sidney. "What was that for?!" I hissed.

"Revenge," he said as he smirked.

I growled and then sighed, "I must warn you that I am a very vengeful person. Now, come on, off to the art room with you!"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Whatever."

He wouldn't stop poking me as we made our way to the art room and I, being a person who doesn't give in, poked him back. Our laughs echoed through the emptying hallways. In the art room, we took a seat at a table with Auraine and boy name Max. Auraine greeted us, "Hey you two."

"Hi," we said in unison.

"So what have you two been up to?" Auraine asked.

"What do you mean?" I said raising an eyebrow.

"Well, Max and I heard giggles, chuckles, shouts, and hollering," Auraine said in a matter-of-fact manner while grinning. I hated that grin. It always meant she was thinking of something… awkward.

"Don't get any ideas, Rainey," I hissed, "he kept poking me."

"Ha-ha! He found your tickle spot!" she laughed.

"Shut up, Rainey," I growled.

"So did you get revenge?" she asked.

This time Sidney answered. "Yea. But her pokes hurt more than tickled."

I smirked and said, "Your welcome."

He frowned. "Shut up you quacking duck."

"Make me you –" I was cut off by the art teacher, Ms. Simone, as she explained the new art project we were about to start. "For the next two weeks, you shall be trying to create a miniature sculpture of the person you sit next to at your tables."

"Great," I said with sarcasm, "I'll be making a miniature Sidney. Wonderful… as if one's not enough."

Ryan frowned and Auraine chuckled. Ms. Simone passed around paper at the tables and we were to begin by trying to take sketch of our partner. "I'll sketch you first," Sidney suggested.

"Why can't you be first?" I asked.

"Why can't you?" he retorted.

"Well, why can't you?" I asked again.

"Because you're going first anyways," he said as he took my hand and raised it in the air.

"What the heck?"

"Okay, Nicole. Ryan will sketch you first. Auraine, Max will be the first to be sketched," Ms. Simone said nodding as she looked at the raised hands.

I was confused… very confused. Then it hit me. While I was paying attention to our argument he also heard Ms. Simone ask for the people to be sketched first to raise their hands. And so while I was preoccupied, he raised my hand just as Ms. Simone's eyes flew over at our table. I growled.

"Will you stop growling? You sound like some kind of wild animal," he hissed. Suddenly I heard a whimper.

"Auraine? What's wrong?" I asked, worried that we had done something wrong.

"Uh… ah… it's nothing really," she replied as started to sweat. She was hiding something and I wanted to know what. And I was going to find out sooner or later.

"Alright then," I sighed, "let's start so I can get this over with."

Max and I stood up in front of Sidney and Auraine and struck a pose. So they began sketching. Minutes later, I was growing restless. I started shifting from one foot to the other and then I started moving my arms.

"Stop moving!"

I stopped and said, "Well, sorry. Jeez. Can I help it if I can't stay in one place for long without moving?"

"Will you just stop moving?!"

"Alright, alright… jeez."

Twenty minutes later he _finally_ finished. "Sheesh, does it always take you that long to draw?" I asked as I stretched.

"I'm not the last one done you know. Your friend's still sketching," he replied.

"Yea, yea. Whatever," I said as I watched Auraine sketch, "Your turn, Sidney."

He stood up and struck a pose, as did Auraine. I started with his face. 'Wow,' I thought to myself as I looked into his eyes closely for the first time.

They were a beautiful midnight blue, the color of the night sky as it nears the shade of black. Though the color was dark his eyes were soft. It looked almost as if it actually felt like a rose petal, a dark blue rose petal though I could not touch it. I was drowning in the gaze of his eyes when someone called out my name. "Huh?" I said as I looked around for the caller. It was Sidney.

"Nicole, you're supposed to be sketching. I know I'm handsome and all but it'd be such a shame if you're grades dropped just because you couldn't take your eyes off me," he said smirking.

"Ha! Don't flatter yourself. I was just wondering how you could look so idiotic," I said.

"Whatever you say, Nicole. Just hurry up, I'm getting bored."

"Shut up or I'll purposely sketch slowly."

And he was silenced. 'Thank heavens,' I thought to myself. I decided to avoid sketching his head until the end for fear of another drowning moment. I drew his long black hair that was tied back in a ponytail and then his ears, nose, and mouth.

I finished quickly and drew his eyes the way I remembered them. It looked okay… not the best but acceptable to me. A few moments later the bell rang, ending the period and releasing us to lunch.

"Aaah!! Freedom!" I sighed as we walked to the cafeteria, "temporarily anyways." Auraine and Sidney chuckled. When we arrived at the cafeteria he asked us, "So, what's there to eat here?"

Auraine answered him as if she were on a commercial, "Well, today you have the choices of tomato in a pasta sack also known as lasagna, a slab of… what they say is meat… and vomit sauce or meat loaf in gravy, and French fries."

"Our personal favorite is French fries as it is the only substance here that is not a choking hazard. Hurry and buy some now before they sell out!" I announced in the same tone.

Ryan raised an eyebrow. "The food can't be that bad…" After seeing our serious faces he added, "Can it?"

"Try some and you'll find out," I said in a sinister voice. Auraine and I gave a witch cackle.

"Uhh… you people are scary," he said.

"Yup. We know," Auraine chuckled, "you'll get used to it after awhile." He merely nodded.

Auraine and I laughed. "Come on, like I said, they run out fast!" I yelled.

We walked quickly to the lunch line and took the last of the fries. As we waited in line to pay, I continued my explanation of the groups in the school.

"Gee, you have a weird school. At my old school, we didn't have such ridiculous things," he said.

"Well, we have them so get used to it," I said.

"So are you and Aura –" he was cut off by one of Firae's so-called friends, Bethaline.

"Firae and Irae want the new kid to like, y'know, like, sit with them," she said to us in a snooty tone.

"The new kid has a name you know," Sidney said.

"Guess what? I like don't care. Now when you're done paying like, come sit with us," she replied.

As she walked away, Sidney turned to us. "Do you mind if I don't sit with you guys?"

"Pshh… who said you had to? And no, we don't mind," Auraine said.

Sidney paid for his fries.

As he was walking to the table with the two blonds I yelled, "Hey Ryan!"

He turned. "What?"

"Good luck!" I smirked.

He frowned as he walked off.

Lunch passed by uneventful and nothing exciting happened until Sidney came to us after lunch. "So Sidney… how was lunch with those foolish little peacocks?"

"You know… they're not that bad."

We stared at him with big eyes. "You're kidding, right?" I asked with an incredulous expression on my face.

"No, I'm serious. They seemed really nice, you know. They don't seem like the type to mistreat others."

Auraine replied, "Well… you haven't exactly been here that long. You wouldn't know them as well as Nicole and me do."

"True," he said.

"Anyways, enough talk about those wretches and let's get to our classes!"

We all walked out of the cafeteria and to the Home Economics room.


End file.
